


thicker than water

by cirrus (themorninglark)



Series: SASO 2017 [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Challenge: Sports Anime Shipping Olympics | SASO 2017, Cousins AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-10
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2018-11-12 10:54:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11160411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themorninglark/pseuds/cirrus
Summary: In which Oikawa and Futakuchi are cousins, complete with bickering, and divergent paths.





	thicker than water

**Author's Note:**

> Written for SASO 2017 Bonus Round 1: AUs | [originally posted here](https://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/21522.html?thread=10209042#cmt10209042)

_"You know, Tooru, Kenji used to be your favourite cousin. He was the first boy you ever played volleyball with—"_  
  
_"Ugh, I don't remember! I only remember Iwa-chan!"_  
  
_"I think we still have photos somewhere… he was taller than you back then!"_  
  
_"— when we get home, I'm burning them."_  
  


* * *

  
  
It _would_ be him, of course. It would be him who sat down next to Takeru, smiled and bribed him all too easily with the cherry-red snake from his packet of sour gummies, and shoved him out of the way to pick up Player 2's gamepad.  
  
"Why does it have to be you?" Tooru grumbles.  
  
Kenji cracks his knuckles and smirks.  
  
"Thanks, Takeru!" he calls loudly over his shoulder. "I'll take you to Li'l Tykes next week!"  
  
"That's _my_ job!" Oikawa yelps.  
  
"Aren't I kind to take it off your hands? Hey Takeru, who's your favourite uncle —"  
  
" _Don't_ answer that!"  
  
But Takeru's already gone off somewhere else to play, and Kenji's settled down into a _way_ too comfortable cross-legged position and mashed the _New Game_ button while Tooru was distracted, and his car's got the jump on Tooru's and there's a flashy plastic cone flying his way and if there's one thing Tooru hates more than Kenji's stupid sour gummies, it's losing.  
  
"You jerk," he mutters, and pretends not to notice the grin that Kenji throws at him.  
  


* * *

  
  
_In truth—_  
  
"Hey."  
  
He turns. A split-second later, and he would have been too late; but it is not for nothing that they spent all those long, languid summers out in the yard at Aunty Yuki's, and with unerring reflexes, Tooru reaches up to catch the ball that comes flying through the air.  
  
Kenji stops where he is, just beyond the shade of the old camphor tree. Hands on hips, hair mussed and T-shirt half-untucked, he is a far cry from his poise on court, and yet —  
  
_That grit_ , thinks Tooru in begrudging recognition, and crouches low.  
  
When he springs up and off his heels, ball arcing in a perfect toss, Kenji leaps to spike it. It hits the top of the fence, lightly grazing the edge before tipping back into their side of the garden.  
  
"Geh," Kenji mutters. "That nearly went over."  
  
Tooru smiles, smug. "It wouldn't have."  
  
"Huh? How do you know?"  
  
"Because _I_ set the toss for _you_. I know how you spike, Kenji."  
  
A moment passes, so infinitesimal Tooru might have dreamt it, but as he holds it tight, clenches, unclenches his fist, Kenji pulls a face at him and makes a well-worn retort about how much Tooru _creeps him out_.  
  
Tooru gives him a V-sign and goes to collect the ball.  
  
_In truth, he does remember._  
_Of course he remembers._  
  


* * *

  
  
After the match, Tooru finds Kenji outside the Datekou locker room, but he has nothing to say. He's not going to apologise. He's not going to feel sorry for them, either. So he leans back, stares at the ceiling, thinks, one of the lights looks like it's going out. It is flickering on and off in the most annoying way. There is a crack next to it that looks like it might become a leak.  
  
"Do you ever think," he says, "about how we could have been on the same team?"  
  
Kenji, through narrowed eyes, shoots him a look.  
  
He doesn't answer, not for a while. He digs his heel into the wall, zips up his green and white jacket and brushes a speck of dust off the sleeve.  
  
He wears it with pride, thinks Tooru, and realises he knows the feeling too.  
  
"Yeah," says Kenji. He pauses before speaking again, his voice level, and careful. "But it's better that we're not."  
  
Tooru laughs. It's a quiet chuckle, without pity, without regret.  
  
"I'm glad you think so too. My life would be so much more boring without you to beat."  
  
Kenji kicks him in the shin. Tooru lets him.  
  
"My team is waiting for me. I have to go."  
  
"See you at New Year's," Tooru calls after Kenji's retreating back. "You owe me ten rounds of _Mario Kart_!"  
  
As Kenji walks out the gym doors, Tooru catches sight of the middle finger he briefly flashes him, and he is glad of the shadows and the solitude that hide his smile, for now.  



End file.
